VIDEO: F-35′s Plan B is “try harder”

Eight months ago, Lieutenant General Terry Robling took over the US Marine Corps aviation branch. Almost immediately, Robling’s most critical programme — the short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) Lockheed Martin F-35B — was placed on probation and threatened by then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates with cancellation. This morning, Robling spoke publicly for the first time about the status of the F-35B’s five engineering problems and why the Marine Corps has no other options. The Marines specially asked the event’s organiser, the Navy League, to invite the news media. And so we came, wielding cameras.

I love those Star Wars references. Who knew George Lucas was such an expert on the human condition? Maybe George could be recruited to help out with the infinite possibilities of dynamic problems on the open STOVL doors. He would fit right into the team…Industrial Lights and Magic. Help me Obi Wan Kenobi.